"He's a hugely colourful character and has so much depth to him. He was kind, vulnerable, sometimes insecure - everything, really," Booth says.

The actor needed to immerse himself in the pop star's frank autobiography and speak to people who knew him 30 years ago, having been born long after Culture Club's heyday.

"Everyone I have spoken to remembers that first performance on Top of the Tops and wondered if he was a boy or a girl. It stuck in the memory."

The film lays emphasis on George's intense relationships with singer Kirk Brandon (played by Richard Madden) and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss (Mathew Horne), piling further pressure on the young actor.

"I had to kiss them both and thought it would be quite bizarre. But I was so involved in the character it was George kissing Jon, not Douglas kissing Mathew.

"I'm good friends with Richard now and don't stand there thinking 'I've kissed him!'" laughs Booth.

Culture Club's debut performance on Top of The Pops in 1982 was recreated for the drama, and watched by Moss.

Eccentric nightclub owner Steve Strange looms large in the film

"He came into the make-up trailer and was like 'woooooooah!" when he saw us.

"I think he found it quite bizarre and emotional. It took him back all those years to when he was having a relationship with George.

"I asked him if there was anything we could have done differently and he said, 'No, it's perfect'," adds Booth.

The sequence was partly filmed using cameras from the era, which led someone on the post-production team to assume they had used actual footage of the performance.

Booth admits he is nervously awaiting reviews of his performance, but says he will be "glad if there's some controversy".

"I hope to find more amazing stories which have such an emotional impact on me," adds the actor, regarded as a talent to watch.

"I'm happy being the age I am now in the present time, but living in the early 80s and being a New Romantic looked like a lot of fun.

"But a lot of it was to cover up their insecurities and some of them maybe weren't having fun..." he adds, remarking on the showy yet flawed character he has brought to the screen.

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